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Mestia Traditional Cache

Hidden : 7/27/2014
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Cache in Mestia town nearby Svaneti tower. The town is one of the most turistic areas in Georgia. You can find there typical Svanetian towers and also there is a museum about them.


About Mestia

Mestia (მესტია) is a center of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region. The symbol of Mestia and whole Svanetia are defensive towers (georgian კოშკები). Most of them were built between 9th and 13th century as a hideout from enemy armies. It is said that 175 towers are situated in Svanetia. In Mestia is also a museum about towers and history of this region, usually opened from 10 am., you can see there how Svanetia changed in the last century.

The main square, Setis moedani, is a symbol of the change of Mestia. Whole center of Mestia is full of modern buildings (such as police station or airport). The government wants Svanetia to become a year-round resort rival of russian Sochi, so they put a lots of money to local turistic infrastructure, but nobody cares that the new buildings remain empty and full of rubish...

Police station Airport

In the square is also an information center. From our experience, they won't tell you much and maybe they will not open on time (10 am.), but they have maps of some regions (on the rack).

Ushguli

From Mestia you can continue to Ushguli, the highest vilage in Georgia. There live about 10 families whole year. Catch some marshrutka to get there. Usually the driver will ask you for about 20 lari per person, but you can persuade him (before you get in) to take you for 5 lari or less.

Ushguli Part of Ushguli

About the cache

The cache is small film canister, so there isn't a pen. If the logbook is full, please change it.

It seems there appeared a second canister on the other side of the road, so now are both fine, but if you can, please remove the second canister or move it to the first one. Valid canister is the one on the right side of the road when walking up (but the second one is newer).

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ba gur evtug fvqr bs gur ebnq (jura jnyxvat hc), orybj gur yrsg ovt fgbar ba vgf yrsg fvqr. Frr sbgbuvag.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)